Private birding & wildlife tours in Puerto Madryn, Península Valdés and beyond
Bird species profile
Bay-capped Wren-Spinetail
Spartonoica maluroides
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Furnariidae
About the species
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Furnariidae
The Bay-capped Wren-Spinetail is a slim, marsh-dwelling furnariid easily recognised by its rich rufous-bay crown, ash-gray face and warm buff underparts. Found from southeastern Brazil through Uruguay and well into northern-central Argentina, it spends its life threading through dense reeds and sedges in fresh, brackish and even saline marshes. Its grasshopper-like buzzy song carries far across the rushes, and both sexes share the rare (for an ovenbird) task of building an open-cup nest hidden low in the vegetation. As with many wetland specialists, its presence is a good barometer of healthy marsh ecosystems.
Habitat
Occurs in extensive stands of Scirpus, Schoenoplectus and other emergent plants in freshwater, brackish and salt marshes from sea level up to c. 900 m.
Foraging
Feeds almost exclusively on insects and other small invertebrates, gleaning or probing among reeds—usually alone or in pairs.
